


Beasts With Deadly Passions

by BasicBlondeDummie



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, But some Happy Endings, Drama, F/F, F/M, Fantasy, Feedback and Constructive Criticism Welcome, Fluff and Angst, Humor, M/M, Romance, Sarcasm, Worldbuilding, lots of pain, more tags with more chapters, video games - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 20:20:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29955342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BasicBlondeDummie/pseuds/BasicBlondeDummie
Summary: Belavhani Lavellen was never meant to be found at the Conclave, yet she ended up the only survivor. Thrust into a world surrounded by unfamiliar and untrusting faces, she must seal the Breach to protect everything she holds dear: her clan, her life, and her world. Aided by the strangest assortment of warriors, rogues, and mages across Thedas, Belavhani embarks on the most dangerous mission of her life… which is saying a lot.Can she do it? Maybe. The end of the world isn’t the issue though.The scrutiny of both enemies and friends is now on her, and Belavhani isn’t exactly used to the spotlight. Nor is she comfortable with the idea of anyone finding out about her past. As she faces demons both physical and mental, delves into a political minefield, and attempts to make sense of all that has happened, she is left to consider: what are people but beasts with deadly passions?**** I did post a few chapters like a year ago, but I ended up busy and so deleted it. Now it's back, edited, and continued! So don't be alarmed if some of it seems familiar starting out lol
Relationships: Carver Hawke/Merrill, Cullen Rutherford/Original Female Character(s), Dagna/Sera (Dragon Age), Dorian Pavus/Original Male Character(s), Female Lavellan/Solas, Fenris/Male Hawke, Inquisitor (Dragon Age)/Original Character(s), Iron Bull/Dorian Pavus, Josephine Montilyet/Original Female Character(s), Leliana (Dragon Age)/Original Character(s), Zevran Arainai/Female Warden, others
Kudos: 1





	1. When the Sky Came Crashing Down

**“I knew who I was this morning, but I’ve changed a few times since then.”**

**-Alice in Wonderland**

There was green everywhere. A voice emanated from a beacon so bright it stung my eyes. I couldn’t go back- no, the spiders were nipping at my heels. Death by spiders was certainly _not_ how I wanted to go. And so I did the only thing I could- run. Up an endless flight of stairs, I launched myself at the feminine beacon of light. Our hands were inches apart-

* * * * * * * * * * * *

There was a pounding everywhere- coming from my head. The room was thankfully dark. A pulsing, separate heartbeat originated from my arm, yet what I saw wasn’t possible. My hand couldn’t be green or glowing- no, I must have just suffered head trauma, that’s it. Yet the longer I stared at the ethereal green _something_ , the more I realized that it was a reality. It was like a parasite, but one I could somehow connect with. It was as enchanting and chaotic as the forests I roamed.

Actual pounding on a nearby door brought me out of my reverie, and that was also the moment I realized I was in chains and surrounded by guards in what seemed to be a type of cell. _Great reaction time, Bela. Just great. What do the_ shems _think you’ve done now?_

An eye entered. Actually, a woman entered, but the massive white eye on her armor was a little distracting. It was a faction symbol, though that was all I knew. It stared at, into, and through me, looking for something I could not give, as did the woman. She had short black hair and a wicked-looking scar on her left cheek. A massive sword hung at her side, and from the way she circled around me, it was likely to be used soon.

The other woman was hidden in the shadows, cloaked in layers of gray, violet, and black. Though she seemed calmer than the black-haired one, her presence was the more threatening. It was one that thrived in the art of shadows and subterfuge.

The scarred one spoke first. “Tell me why we shouldn’t kill you now. The Conclave is destroyed. Everyone who attended is dead, except for you.” 

_As if that was my fault,_ I thought. Then it occurred to me that was what these two believed. “You think I’m responsible for this?!” Given my situation, I probably shouldn’t have been as harsh as I was, but I also didn’t particularly care.

A fierce interrogation began, yet it was hard to defend my actions since I had no idea what in the Void was going on. The scarred woman raised her arm as though to beat the truth out of me, yet found her attempt blocked by the silent one.

“We need her, Cassandra,” she urged.

“What happened?” I asked, hoping the calm woman would take over.

The two women shared a look before the mean one huffed. “Go Leliana, I will take her to the rift.” I opened my mouth to refuse this- Leliana didn’t seem inclined to cut out my tongue- but understanding that I was in no position to make demands, I clamped down quickly.

Cassandra came around and detached my cuffs from the chains that had held me to the ground. “What happened?” I repeated.

Cassandra let out a long sigh. “It will be easier to show you.” She motioned for a guard to open the door, and the light nearly blinded me as I walked out onto a snow-covered bridge. That was when I saw it. Whatever the hell it was. A massive, angry hole in the sky consumed the center of my vision, and I watched as streaks of green blasts crashed down into the mountains. “We call it the Breach. It- and others like it- was caused by the explosion at the Conclave.”

My mouth gaped open. “An explosion can do that?”

“This one did. Unless we act, the Breach may grow until it swallows the world.” As if that wasn’t bad enough, the sky erupted as the Breach seemed to swell and spew more wrathful green comets to the ground, and the mark on my hand responded in kind with its own agonizing crack. It put me on my knees as the parasite sent enough force through me that it felt as though the bones in my hand were splintering and disintegrating while setting my nerves on fire.

“Each time the Breach expands, your mark spreads… and it is killing you.” I wanted to bite back a reply, but any response would have taken too much effort, so I only looked at her with pain-filled eyes. “It may be the key to stopping this, but there isn’t much time.”

Through a weak breath, I asked: “A key to what? That Breach doesn’t exactly have a lock.”

“To closing the Breach, though I don’t know how. Whether or not it’s possible is something that will be discovered shortly. It is our only choice, however, and yours.” This statement, at least, I didn’t feel was a threat, only a bare fact, which I did appreciate.

“You still think I did this? To myself?” I asked, noticing her prying eyes.

“Not intentionally,” she replied slowly as she helped me to my feet. “Something clearly went wrong.”

“And if I’m not responsible?”

She gave an exasperated sigh. “Someone is. And you are our only suspect. You wish to prove your innocence? This is the only way.”

It was unfortunate how quickly I delivered an answer, for it truly showed how screwed I was. “Well no one likes to see their world destroyed, and I would much rather not die… So if I can help, I will.”

“Really…?” Damn these _shems_ , acting as if they were the only ones who cared about things.

“There are people I care about other than myself, surprisingly enough.” I had no right to be so rude to my jailor, and I didn’t want to start off by making enemies, so I tried to calm my racing thoughts despite being surrounded by likely enemies.

Instead of answering, Cassandra walked me through a camp. In an instant, everyone’s eyes were on me, a foreign feeling I really didn’t appreciate. And the hatred was deeply unsettling if not unexpected from a bunch of _shems._

“They have decided your guilt. They need it. The people of Haven mourn our Most Holy, Divine Justinia, Head of the Chantry. The Conclave was hers. It was a chance for peace between mages and templars. She brought their leaders together. Now they are dead. We lash out, like the sky. But we must think beyond ourselves, as she did until the Breach is sealed.” It was then that she pulled out a small knife. For a split second, I was sure she had decided to kill me in front of everyone but recognized my stupidity as she only cut my bonds. “There will be a trial. I can promise no more.” 

I couldn’t resist the smirk that touched my lips. “Because _shems_ have always been fair to elves.”

She let out an impatient grunt. “Come. It is not far.”

I followed a few steps behind as she explained that my mark needed to be tested before it was used on the Breach. As she gave orders for the gate into the valley to be opened, I overheard a male priest chanting about the will of the Maker to a small group of refugees. Of course, the _shem_ would take a catastrophe and turn it into an opportunity to preach about the importance of their imagined god. 

Cassandra must have seen my look of disgust because she asked: “Do you think your gods would have something better to say?”

“I think the Dalish gods are just as silent as your god. Your priest shouldn’t be assuming the actions of something he has never encountered.” I didn’t trust myself to say anything more on the subject, and Cassandra seemed to recognize this, so we moved on.

Then the Breach moaned and swelled again, the pain in my palm sending me to my knees once again. “The pulses are coming faster now,” she remarked. “The larger the Breach grows, the more rifts that form, and the more demons we face.”

“How did I survive the blast?” I might have been speaking too soon, for this mark seemed to be primed to finish me off. 

“They said you stepped out of a rift, then fell unconscious. They say a woman was behind you, but no one knows who she was.” Yes, I remembered her. The beacon of light. Was she a woman, though? “Everything farther in the valley was laid to waste, including the Temple of Sacred Ashes. I suppose you’ll see soon enough.”

The Temple. That reminded me: I needed a story to explain the presence of a Dalish elf at the Conclave. I couldn’t very well tell them the truth- it would just give them even more reason to cut off my ears and send them back to my clan. I could just say I traveled and gathered information and stories for my clan, and my Keeper had sent me to gather information about whatever the outcome of the Conclave was. It wasn’t technically a lie, though neither was it the whole truth.

It was then that we were crossing a bridge, and out of the sky came crashing one of the green comets from the Breach. The bridge collapsed, both Cassandra and I tumbling onto the frozen lake below. Pain lashed through my right shoulder as it hit a sharp boulder, and my head banged against the ice hard enough to make my vision go fuzzy. I rolled onto my left, huddled against the ruined bridge, and gripped my shoulder, shaking my sight back into focus.

Then the demons appeared. They were the same height as me, so relatively short, but despite being hunched over, their arms were very long and tipped in claws. I heard Cassandra shout at me to stay back as she leaped into battle wielding her sword, but even as I pushed myself into a crouched position, a crater in front of me yawned open and a clawed hand gripped onto the ice and crawled out. I glanced around for anything that might have served as a weapon. By some miracle, leaning against a pile of upturned crates like Andruil herself had placed them there, was a bow and quiver of arrows. I leaped towards it as the demon swiped at me, missing my legs by mere inches. In a moment, there was an arrow right in the middle of its head. It shrieked and collapsed, dissolving into tendrils of emerald smoke. From my kneeled position, I took aim at the demons surrounding Cassandra and disposed of one at her back, then shot the last one in its upraised arm, just before Cassandra sliced through its chest like she was cutting butter.

It took more effort than I would have preferred to stand up, yet I did and looped the quiver onto my back. Then Cassandra marched and poised her stare and sword towards me. “Drop your weapon. Now.”

My eyes grew to twice their size. “I just saved your neck and you want me to disarm?! Were those just empty words when you said we had to think beyond ourselves?” First, she wanted to work together, then she demanded that I be unarmed. It was ridiculous.

“Were you not listening when I said you were our only suspect? I said drop your weapon.” 

The words startled me, but I pressed forward in a calmer voice: “Leliana said you need me. I said I’d help. I need something to defend myself with so I’m alive long enough to do that. If you really want me to drop my weapon then fine, I’ll do it, but be prepared to catch my head when it drops off my shoulders.” I let my bow hang at my side, though my stance was still defensive.

An exasperated sigh. Then: “You’re right. I cannot expect you to be defenseless. Though I advise you to watch your words, your tongue will end up doing you more harm than good. I must remember that you came willingly.”

I took a deep breath as she sheathed her sword. “And I must remember I am not clean of guilt yet.” We nodded tersely to each other and continued on through a deserted path. It seemed the wrath of heaven was upon us as we traveled through more ruined buildings and corpses, fighting through countless demons. My supply of arrows slowly dwindled, as there were some that were either consumed by the demons or broken with wear. I was lucky the quiver had been mostly full with almost thirty arrows, and even luckier that some corpses still had arrows on them. Or at least, I was luckier than the corpses at that moment.

After almost a half-hour of journeying through the wreckage, my arms and back were starting to feel slightly sore. My armor was slick with demon ichor, and I gratefully accepted the healing potions Cassandra offered me. We crested onto the top of a small overhang, and that was when I saw what just exactly a rift was.

Oh shit.


	2. Chapter 2: The Wrath of Heaven

“Hell is empty, and all the devils are here.”

-William Shakespeare

Demons were everywhere, and I was quickly running out of arrows. An arrow through the eye of a few shades, a few whispered words, and the next arrow exploded when it hit a wraith. One by one they went down, but I didn’t see this ending until the rift itself was closed. 

It was a terrible sight. Crystals expanded from a center and grew and shrank to their own fancy. Smoke billowed out and wrapped around the demons. A form of liquid dripped down from the center and left steaming puddles on the flagstone. This thing needed to close. Now.

As if on cue, another elf approached me and grabbed my marked wrist. “Quickly! Before more come through!” He thrust my hand to the rift and I went with it. As if through a magnet, my mark reached out to the rift and connected in a bright tendril of magic. Please, please close, I pleaded. I imagined the rift as a tear in the fabric and tried to imagine my mark sewing it shut. Fortunately, there wasn’t a major increase in pain while I did this. It felt as though I was overstretching my arm until with a flash, the rift imploded and severed the connection it had to my mark.

I warily eyed the man who had grabbed me and backed away a couple of steps. He was bald, that was the first thing I noticed. “What did you do?”

“I did nothing,” he insisted. “The credit is yours.”

“I did that? How?” Now probably wasn’t the moment to be asking questions- especially as aggressive as they sounded- but I despised ignorance. And so the questions were asked.

“Whatever magic opened the Breach in the sky also placed that mark upon your hand. I theorized the mark might be able to close the rifts that have opened in the Breach’s wake- and it seems I was correct.” How unnervingly smart. I didn’t know how to feel about it or him. 

“Meaning it could also close the Breach itself,” Cassandra cut in.

“Possibly.” He folded his hands in front of him and tilted his head forward, almost humbly if not for the small smirk he wore. He seemed completely unperturbed by how hard I was staring at him. “It seems you hold the key to our salvation.” My eyebrows raised nearly sky high at that. I most certainly did not. I hoped.

“Good to know! Here I thought we’d be ass-deep in demons forever.” A dwarf with an impressive amount of chest hair approached me and offered his hand. “Varric Tethras: rogue, storyteller, and occasional unwelcome tagalong,” he added with a glance to Cassandra. What he was doing with the likes of Cassandra escaped me.

I shook his hand. “Bela. You with the Chantry or..?” The question seemed stupid as soon as I voiced it.

The elven man chuckled. “Was that a serious question?” I blushed to the tip of my ears from embarrassment, and it did nothing to increase my likeness of him. I glared at him to prove it.

“Technically I’m a prisoner, just like you,” answered Varric. I nodded. I wanted to be as far away from here as soon as possible before things got even worse they already were.

Cassandra stormed up to Varric and argued with him. She did it enough that I could've sworn it was one of her favorite pastimes. I caught onto the last fragment of one of Varric's retorts: "... Seeker? Your soldiers aren’t in control anymore. You need me.” He seemed particularly pleased with the idea. I, however, had caught onto Cassandra’s title. Seeker. A Seeker of Truth? She and I had more similarities than I thought.

Cassandra gave a disgusted noise as the elf made his way into my line of sight. “My name is Solas if there are to be introductions. I am pleased to see you still live.” His voice was quiet.

“He means: ‘I kept that mark from killing you while you slept,’” Varric supplemented.

“I see,” I responded. “Belavhani. You seem to know your way around all this,” I commented, trying to be a little less severe, and he gave me a small smile.

“Solas is an apostate,” Cassandra informed me.

“Technically, all mages are now apostates, Cassandra,” he replied. Turning back to me, he explained how he came to help with the Breach. He clearly wasn’t Dalish. He claimed he wasn’t a Circle mage. Who was he? A couple of ideas popped into my head, but I couldn't afford to jump to conclusions too soon.

I shook away the questions about him that raised in my throat and asked something more relevant. “What will happen when the Breach is closed?"

He again answered with yet another small smile. “One hopes those in power remember who helped and who did not.”

“Well, you have helped me, so I owe you thanks,” /and a life debt,/ I thought. And though the thought was unpleasant, I figured closing the Breach was enough to balance out the scales between us.

“Thank me if we manage to close the Breach without killing you in the process.” He turned his attention to the Seeker. “Cassandra, you should know. The magic involved here is unlike any I’ve seen. Your prisoner is no mage. Indeed, I find it difficult to imagine any mage having such power.” Not a mage- exactly. I did not practice magic. Definitely not.

“Understood. We must get to the forward camp quickly,” Cassandra urged, and she and Solas took off down the bank.

Varric stopped at my side with a shrug. “Well, Bianca’s excited.”

I contemplated how all of this was turning out. What in the Void was I getting myself into? “Out of the frying pan and into the fire, I do believe," I muttered to myself.

We passed through more groups of demons and I began to think the stench of them would never leave my nostrils or my clothes. The demons approached and fell, though none of the battles were easy. Then we approached another rift, with soldiers already in the midst of battle.

Eventually, I distantly saw Leliana arguing with a man in Chantry-typical dress. My elf ears clearly heard him reject her request to prepare soldiers.

“The prisoner must get to the Temple of Sacred Ashes. It is our only chance!” Leliana insisted. The priest, or whoever he was, looked up at our party and Leliana exclaimed: “You made it. Chancellor Roderick, this is-”

“I know who she is,” he replied coldly. “As Grand Chancellor of the Chantry, I order you to take this criminal to Val Royeaux to face execution.”  _ Well, now wait a fucking second.  _ My hand brushed against the cool hilt of a dagger I had found. I thought Cassandra was in charge.

“‘Order me?’ You are a glorified clerk! A bureaucrat!”  _ Yeah, you tell him, Cassie! _

They bickered back and forth as the world fell apart around them, one side arguing for action, while the other argued for a leader. Honestly, I just wanted to leave them there; I could probably close the Breach faster than they would finish arguing. “What about the Breach?” I interjected harshly, and the Chancellor gave me an even harsher glare.

“We need a Divine to decide what to do,” he replied.

“So none of you are actually in charge here. Have you lost your ability to rationalize and make your own decisions, Chancellor?” My patience was on its very last string.

“You killed everyone who was in charge!” He glared at Cassandra. “Call a retreat Seeker. Our position here is hopeless.” The argument continued, but this time they were debating how to proceed: the valley route or through the mountains, while Chancellor No Spine insisted on a retreat. The Breach flashed again, and the mark on my palm let out a violent burst of pain. I was lucky to stay on my feet this time, as the pain was now no longer new. 

Cassandra eyed me and my mark, then asked for my advice. It took a few moments to think about the path with the best chance, and I responded: “I say the mountain path. I won’t live long enough to see your ‘trial.’ Whatever happens, happens now.” 

As the two women agreed and we set off on our path, the Chancellor uttered one last message. “On your head be the consequences, Seeker.”

Cassandra may have had the grace to stay silent, but I sure as hell didn’t. “And to you may the cowards flock, Chancellor.” Cassandra glanced at me as we hurried into the fortress. I ignored her. Leaders did what they had to, simple as that. 

After another rift was dealt with, Solas approached my side as the last tinge of green faded into the air. “Sealed, as before. You are becoming quite proficient at this.”

“Let’s hope it works on the big one,” Varric suggested as a man approached our group. I couldn’t have said it better myself, and quite readily wanted this elf to leave me alone until I could gauge just how much of a threat he was to me. He was too weird with no vallaslin and mysterious knowledge. How in the Void did he manage to be in just the opportune spot to help when the people needed it? It was just too lucky. And in my experience, that didn’t happen.

I slowed down as we entered the ruins of the temple. “That is where you walked out of the Fade and our soldiers found you. They say a woman was behind you. No one knows who she was.” I didn’t respond to Cassandra’s words. It didn’t matter what I said because I wouldn’t say what she wanted to hear. I did not know who the woman was. 

The only sounds as we traveled through the wreckage were that of the crackling flames. Ash fell like snow, and it was such a disturbing contrast to the contorted burning corpses that had seemingly been paralyzed into their dying position. I was not a stranger to death, but these horrors were different. Every single one of these souls had suffered and for all I knew, it was my fault. It was almost a relief when we came across the Breach. Almost.

“The Breach is a long way up.” How in the fucking Void was this supposed to work?

“You’re here! Thank the Maker.” Leliana approached with scouts right behind her. She gripped Cassandra’s shoulder. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. Leliana, have your men take up positions around the Temple.”

They left to follow their orders, yet I was still preoccupied with taking in the insurmountable task in front of me. A massive rift took up the center of what used to be a grand room, and tendrils of green magic escaped from it to feed into the ever-growing Breach hundreds of feet above.

“This is your chance to end this. Are you ready?” Cassandra’s voice was firm and somewhat wary.

Not really. “I’m not sure how to even start to get up to that thing.”

“You shouldn’t need to,” replied Solas. “This rift was the first, and it is the key. Seal it, and perhaps we seal the Breach.”

“Then let’s find a way down. And be careful.” Cassie didn’t need to tell anyone twice.

We circled around the balcony towards the stairs on the far side. Then: “Now is the hour of our victory. Bring forth the sacrifice.” That voice. It ricocheted inside my head and pounded on memories that were not there. It was guttural and dark, just barely human-sounding, yet it almost resembled honey pouring over hard seeds. It was terrifying, but I wanted to hear more. Maybe if he spoke more, I would remember.

We passed lyrium that was not lyrium. Resembling rubies, the red lyrium gave off crackling energy that heated the air around it. It sang like lyrium, but if normal lyrium was a major chord, this was a minor. The same, yet not. It was more tempting but more repulsive.

“It’s evil. Whatever you do, don’t touch it.” Varric slapped at my hand that had unknowingly been reaching towards it. 

“And here I was planning on making a nice jeweled necklace of my favorite color,” I replied playfully. “What a shame.”

Then I heard that voice again: “Keep the sacrifice still.”

A woman’s voice joined the fray: “Someone, help me!”

The words came to my mind just as my own voice replied. “What’s going on here?” As if in answer, the rift unleashed a wave of magic, and my palm roared in pain.

Cassandra looked at me as if I held all the secrets in the world. “That was your voice. Most Holy called out to you. But…” Before she could state whatever had come to her head, a scene exploded into a non-physicality before us. There was a figure black as night with red coals for eyes, demanding my death for the interruption of what looked like a no-good ritual. 

“You were there! Who attacked? And Justinia, is she…? Was this vision true? What are we seeing?”

The questions were too much. “I don’t remember!” I yelled at her... Damn the Stars. Cassie didn’t understand that I had the same questions.

“Echoes of what happened here.” Solas’s voice was quiet. It was always quiet. He looked between Cassandra and me. “The Fade bleeds into this place. The rift is not sealed but it is closed… albeit temporarily. I believe that with the mark, the rift can be opened, and then sealed properly and safely. However, opening the rift will likely attract attention from the other side.”

Ever the soldier, Cassandra turned to the scouts lined up around us. “That means demons. Stand ready!”

They answered her order immediately. Bows were pulled taut, swords were unsheathed, and staves were drawn. It was now or never. I just had to do this.

I just had to open and close the rift. Then I could leave and return to my solitude.

Being just underneath the rift, I stuck my arm out with my palm up and willed a connection to the fade. The reaction was immediate and deadly. A massive beast with multiple black eyes, horns, and a body hard as a rock, slammed into the physical world, crushing three soldiers under his feet. A whip of electricity appeared in his hands and the battle began. I worked to disrupt the rift, to weaken him and his guard, but the beast was still strong enough to take out several archers with a blast of lightning. 

Smaller demons started to come through, and I had to abandon the rift to tear into the demons at my back with. Once I had a clear shot from against a wall where no demons could sneak up on me, I aimed an arrow straight for the massive demon's eyes, and thank the Creators, my aim held true. Another arrow followed immediately after, and I made eye-contact with Leliana a few yards away. Unfortunately, taking an eye while it still had four others meant I was put squarely in its sights.

It let out a gravelly laugh and roared, beams of lightning igniting the ends of its hands and horns. Then, it charged at me. Unlucky for it, I had been in a similar situation with a druffalo before. Wait. Wait. Wait. Almost... I leaped to the side at the last of seconds and its great head collided with the stone wall. I picked up my dagger once more and pounced onto its neck while it struggled to focus. I plunged my dagger up into the point of the neck that connected to its skull, repeating the action until its gore coated my arms so thoroughly I couldn’t see skin. I rolled off and landed somewhat gracefully on my feet. Eyes were on me, staring in awe, but I couldn’t waste any more time. I ran to the rift and raised my left hand. Close.

There was an explosion of white light and I was lost into a dreamless sleep.


End file.
